With a week to go until the World Cup season opener on the Rettenbach glacier, Austria have confirmed their squad: nine women and eight men will line up for the two giant slaloms in Sölden on October 24 and 25. The list features a debutant, a comeback story and two notable gaps. The Austrian Ski Federation (ÖSV) announced the 17 names on Friday evening after the final places were decided in internal qualification runs.
Scheib returns as defending champion
The women's team is led by Julia Scheib, who returns to Sölden as defending champion and sits at the top of the giant slalom rankings. She is joined by Stephanie Brunner, Natalie Falch, Franziska Gritsch, Ricarda Haaser, Victoria Olivier, Leonie Raich, Elena Riederer and Valentina Rings-Wanner.
The standout name is Ricarda Haaser. The Tyrolean has fought her way back from a fractured tibial plateau and earned a guaranteed start for the opener. Falch, Riederer and Rings-Wanner, by contrast, only secured their places in Friday's internal qualification.
There is bad news for Nina Astner. The Tyrolean injured her right lower leg in a training crash and will miss Sölden, although the federation said the injury is not serious. Leonie Raich takes her place in the team.
Eisner gets his home debut
In the men's team, Stefan Brennsteiner and Marco Schwarz are the leading names. Schwarz finished runner-up to Marco Odermatt in Sölden last year. They are joined by brothers Lukas and Patrick Feurstein, Raphael Haaser, Joshua Sturm, Noel Zwischenbrugger and Jakob Eisner.
For the 23-year-old from Carinthia, it will be his first World Cup start, and it comes at a home race in front of a big crowd. Eisner claimed one of the remaining spots in Friday's internal qualification.
Alpine SkiingFIS turmoil deepens as Trinkl turns down Waldner's race director jobOne big name is missing. Vincent Kriechmayr has opted not to race the giant slalom opener. The speed specialist decided against starting on the Rettenbach glacier, leaving Austria with a pure technical line-up for the men's race.
Course cleared, women open on Saturday
The conditions are in place: the FIS approved the Rettenbach course at its snow control, and the opening weekend will go ahead as planned from October 23 to 25. After the bib draw on the evening of Friday, October 23, the women open the World Cup winter with their giant slalom on Saturday, October 24, with the first run at 10am and the second run at 1pm local time. The men race on Sunday.
For the Austrian women, the goal is to build on Scheib's strong previous season. The men face a familiar obstacle in Odermatt, who won the Sölden giant slalom last year to launch his pursuit of another overall title with a 0.24-second margin over Schwarz. Whether Brennsteiner, Schwarz or one of the Feurstein brothers can challenge the Swiss this time will become clear on October 25.
